More
than three dozen members of local schools, libraries and community agencies
convened at Madison Hall to discuss literacy needs throughout the county as
part of theLiteracy
Coalition of Madison County’sannual fall meeting.

Members
of the Literacy Coalition of Madison County, or LCMCNY, worked to identify key
areas of focus as the coalition moves forward and shared success stories.

LCMCNY
interim director Michael Drahos said in the future, members would like to have
more meetings will the full coalition present and increase public awareness of
literacy coalition and better broadcast the positive work being done.

“There
was the feeling that we could do a better job communicating the existence and
work of the coalition,” Drahos said.

Two
of the programs celebrated at the fall meeting include Madison County Reads
Ahead, MCRA, and the Dolly Parton Imagination Library, DPIL.

MCRA
is a free one-on-on tutoring program for adults seeking to improve their lives
through improved English language skills and the desire to earn a high school
equivalency diploma. At the meeting, Gary Johnson, one of the volunteer tutors,
shared the success story of one of the learners, Brandon Fowler. While in the
program, Fowler overcame many difficulities [sic] as he struggled to get his
equivalency diploma.READ MORE @

Literacy
Bitterroothas moved across the street with the Human Resource Council to 303 N. Third in
Hamilton.

The
signs are not yet in place and the remodel is not complete, but executive
director Dixie Stark and the teachers at Literacy Bitterroot are changing the
lives of their students by providing education, guidance and help in completing
the necessary paperwork.

Literacy
Bitterroot teaches adults who are reading below a 12th grade level to improve
their skills in reading, writing and math.

The
goal is high school graduation achieved with passing a High School Equivalency
Test (HiSET) that replaced the General Educational Development (GED) in
Montana.

In
March, Literacy Bitterroot will have served students for 26 years. They
typically have 150 to 200 students and 45 to 65 graduates each year.

Stark
said when she started with the program she worked part-time. It had all
volunteer teachers and they only worked with adults who could not read.READ MORE @